Linqing-Changyuan Offensive

The Linqing-Changyuan Offensive was an Imperial Japanese Army offensive mounted during the Second Sino-Japanese War in the autumn of 1937. The offensive was launched along the front lines of the war, which stretched from Henan province in the west to Shandong in the east by August 1937, and over 50,000 Japanese troops took part in the large-scale assault against over 65,000 Chinese troops, some of whom had just come up from Guangxi to reinforce the Kuomintang army. The Japanese punched through the Chinese positions with assistance from armored divisions, which the Chinese did not possess. The Chinese were gradually forced back, and the front line stabilized along the Linqing-Changyuan line for the next few months.